While some NGOs and advocacy groups called on the government to reaffirm its spending pledge, John Hillary, executive director of War on Want, argued the 0.7% aid debate – and the millennium development goals – have drawn attention away from pressing issues of social and economic justice.

Claire Provost argued that making an economic case for investing in literacy, proposed at the first World Literacy Summit, could help win the short-term battle for funding – but risks losing the war by side-stepping human rights.

And Celeste Hicks reports from Mao, Chad, where rising admissions to a therapeutic feeding centre highlight the growing urgency of the escalating food crisis in the Sahel.

Coming up on the site

We'll report on growing resistance to so-called land grabs in Sierra Leone, where estimates suggest 17% of the country's farmland has been snapped up by investors.

We examine the unfolding humanitarian crisis in South Sudan and UK aid programmes in the world's newest country.

Mark Tran looks at the role volunteers can play in spreading vital health messages by translating from English into local languages for communities in Africa and India.

And our next Global development podcast will examine the role of children in armed conflict and what is being done to reintegrate former child soldiers in communities around the world.

Plus, following a gallery of your water images last month, we'll be posting another next week focusing on readers' photos on the theme of water. You can see all our readers' photos and find out how to get involved on our Flickr group page.

Multimedia

Recorded at the Guardian's Open Weekend, Global development site editor Lucy Lamble debates global progress on tackling poverty with economists Jayati Ghosh and Abhijit Banerjee, and Guardian journalists Mark Tran and Sarah Boseley.

Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) is known as "India's Silicon Valley". But the rapid growth of the city's technology industry has barely touched the lives of the 2 million people who live in poverty. Photographer Simon Murphy documents daily life in the city.

Farmers in the Yarccacancha community in Huancavelica, one of Peru's poorest regions, struggle with flooding in the rainy season and water shortages in winter. Can a new dairy co-operative and cheese-making plant improve their prospects?

What you said: some of the best comments from our readers

How much impact would an African woman at the helm of the World Bank have on African economies? This depends on how much latitude the World Bank presidency has to change the direction of that institution.

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